September 2nd

“my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.” Job 14:17

that person over there
looks like you would need
a bag from a vacuum
for all their foolish mistakes.
and the one next door
probably requires one of those
33-gallon heavy duty trash bags.
while ours, of course, would only
take the smallest zipper bag.
but lest we forget,
God doesn’t seem interested
in hiding our sins
where we can pretend
they never happened.
yet, the good news is that
our grudges, those words
we wish we had never said,
those small betrayals which
seemed to expand overnight
are gathered up, all of it,
all of us, gathered, held,
in God’s hands—
and, somehow,
they are not held
against us
forever.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo:@Thom-Shuman

September 1st

“Will you speak falsely for God, and speak deceitfully for him?” Job 13:7

where is the Job
for these times, when we
invoke God as if
hatred were holy,
cruelty were courage
fear was the new faith?
where is the voice
we need to hear
in these days,
as people try to wrap violence
in the garments of grace
and claim that our enemies
are the ones God despises as well?
perhaps faith, the faith we need
takes place when we close our mouths
long enough to let God speak
in the cry of the vulnerable,
the outsider in the community,
the frightened children—
and if we dare to listen,
we might realize that if
our faith needs hatred
to prove we are holy,
it may not be God
we keep defending.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo:@Thom-Shuman

August 31st

“I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called upon God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock.” Job 12:4

ah, Job, you knew
what it was like to speak truth
and hear laughter instead of listening.
we know it as well these days—
empathy being mocked as weakness,
kindness seen as naïve,
when cries for justice are dismissed
even before they are heard.
Still, Job, you remind us
that being ridiculed
does not diminish truth.
so may we not be too eager
to offer the easy laugh,
to make quick judgments,
to dismiss others from
the comfort of our certainty—
but let us listen,
especially to those whose pain
makes us squirm.
for it just might be
that the voice we laugh away
is the one God is using
to snap us out of our
self-perceived blamelessness.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo:@Thom-Shuman

August 30th

“You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid; many will entreat your favor.” Job 11:19

told whom to fear,
what to be afraid of,
who is coming after us,
who we must blame,
has become our new currency—
shared from screen to screen,
screed to screed,
street to street.
but if we dare to dig beneath
the bitterness and sound bites,
the outrage and never-ending quarrels,
we might just hear that ancient promise—
‘you will lie down
and no one can make you afraid.’
not because the world has shouted
‘olly, olly, oxen free,’
or that justice no longer matters,
but that we don’t give fear power
over how we choose to live.
this morning, every morning
this day, every day,
this night, every night
ay fear not have the last word,
as we live in courage,
we give away compassion,
we share in the quiet conviction
that we belong to one another—
and that God’s grace
is still wider than our fear.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo:@Thom-Shuman

August 29th

 "'Why did you bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me,'" Job 10:18

if you think i am good at complaining,

it's because i learned from the best.

those ancestors whose photos have

faded over the years until they look

like the dirt of Sinai they carried on

their sandals and clothes for decades.

it's from listening to the stories 

that the disciples forgot to redact

from the good news books 

they were so quick to self-publish,

with those clueless comments 

when they couldn't understand 

those simple, everyday stories you told,

or those knuckleheaded challenges

they threw in your face when you

let slip that your journey was going

to end with you crossing over into

a different sort of promised land.

so,

when i whine (and i will)

when i grumble (too many times)

when i murmur under my breath

thinking you can't read my lips,

be as patient, as forgiving,

as willing to stick with me 

like you were with all those 

whose words i am just repeating

(even though i think they are brand new).

(c) Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

August 28th

 "'If he would take his rod away from me, and not let dread of him terrify me, then I would speak without fear of him, for I know I am not what I am thought to be.'" Job 9:34-35

it was not out of faith
i began to follow you

but out of pure fear, of

all those terrible things 

dumped on me by folks

who crafted you out of the 

monsters of their own ids

and the preachers who were

simply echoing what they heard

sitting on those same hard pews

which became warmer with every word.

they still show up in the moments

when i wake up to stare into 

the shadowed future i cannot see,

those ghosts of worship past,

walking, watching, whispering.

but then,

i glance over and notice 

that rod which a young carpenter 

repurposed into a yoke

so we could journey together, 

i see you sitting in the corner,

draped in the warm shawl of grace

knitted by your gentle Spirit, just

waiting for me to listen to your

deepest hopes for me.

(c) Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

August 27th

“He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouts of joy. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more." Job 8:21-22

sorrow takes up far
too much room and delight
is like the stranger at our door,
so perhaps it is time
to go back to school
and relearn how to speak joy
once again for, as Job reminds us,
God remembers our laughter
and will let it slip back into our lives—
quiet as a friend’s surprising kindness,
gentle as sunlight tiptoeing
along the kitchen floor,
graceful as the song
which reminds us of
a treasured memory,
the soft moment when
when remember we are still here.
which might be all we need--
leaving the space
for laughter to slip in ,
learning to trust the God
who cradles our tears
longs to put a smile
back on our faces.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo:@Thom-Shuman